Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* Linework NW has added a second special guest: Jim Woodring. He joins the previously announced Michael DeForge. That's a really nice choice: a formidable cartoonist that doesn't do a ton of shows and one that is good both signing and if there's programming, participating in programming. He's also on a to-die-for run of work right now.

* here are some photos from the Gabrielle Bell workshop at SAW. I never know how to cover extended events and program like that, but what SAW does in terms of bringing people in seems like a really admirable, cool thing.

* Chris Sims talks about the rise of the X-Men. I agree with most of what he has to say, with our weakest area of agreement how much the international flavor of the cast really had an effect on how that comic worked with audiences. I think the fact they were mostly new characters was a big deal; I remember feeling like those characters were mine in a way that the members of the Fantastic Four and other charactersthat arrived in the 1960s weren't. I also think that Sims is super-correct that Cockrum was a really good designer and that John Byrne provided some really great art and I believe some story assistance on those comics. I'd have to re-read to see if the Cockrum stories were old-fashioned. The X-Men were also appealing underdogs in a way that you couldn't do 20 years later once hardcore fans wrapped their own egos around the actions of the characters, and I think when characters have longevity a period like that becomes strangely important, that they can lose their share of fights and not suffer for it. Anyway, Sims is always interesting to read when he provides a broader take on mainstream comics.

* here's a nice wrap-up of recent CBLDF institutional news. I'm glad to see Direct Market retailers supporting the Fund, and that auction they do at the ComicsPRO meeting every year seems to work well for both groups. The idea of brining in guest-editors for the Liberty Annual publications they're doing seems really smart, too, and I look forward to seeing what the well-liked Lauren Sankovitch puts together.

* these are many of the comics that Greg Burgas believes you should own. I imagine there are more than these, is all I'm saying, or the project is completed.